


Disaster Magnet

by Foxpaws10



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe, Andrew is fed up with his shit, M/M, Matt and Neil are roommates, Neil is a disaster, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-14 11:53:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11207538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxpaws10/pseuds/Foxpaws10
Summary: Prompt - 79: That's the third time I've saved your lifeNeil and Matt move into a new apartment. Andrew is their suffering neighbour. Neil is a disaster and Andrew is fed up with having to save him.





	Disaster Magnet

Eight weeks. Andrew had been living in his apartment in relative peace and quiet for eight weeks. There had been no unwanted visitors (aside from a curious cousin who was promptly told to leave at knife point). The only noise had been the humming of his refrigerator; the inconsistent leaky tap in his bathroom, and the occasional murmur of his TV. He could smoke in any room at any time of the day or night. If nightmares didn’t dig their claws into him during the night he could sleep until midday without worrying about being woken by a pestering roommate. He could come and go from his apartment at any hour without receiving a menagerie of texts asking where he was or where he was going or if he could pick something up from the grocery store. He could keep his freezer stuffed with ice cream and ban any vegetables from his kitchen. He could eat a birthday cake at 2 in the morning without argument. Eight weeks of complete freedom and his own company.

He knew it was too good to last.

Two hours somebody had been knocking about next door. He knew that the new tenants were due to move in, but it wasn’t even nine in the morning. Nobody had the right to be awake, let alone moving at that sort of time in the morning. Yes he might have been awake, but his nightmares had been throwing shit about his head all night. Throwing a temper tantrum at being ignored the previous night and squashed beneath the heavy smoke of an entire pack of cigarettes. If he could suffocate his lungs with smoke, maybe he could chase his demons with it. 

Eventually the noise got too much to lay in bed and attempt to ignore or smoke through. Dressing for the day and draining a mug of hot chocolate the way most people drank their water, he shoved his door open and headed down to the parking garage.

“Good morning!” He glared in silence at the tall man with spiky hair and the slightly shorter girl with cropped curls as they maneuvered a hideously orange sofa up the stairwell. 

“Rude,” the girl muttered as he shoved past them and headed down another flight of stairs. He had no interest in making friends, and already they seemed too much like his cousin. Too much energy and cheer, too keen to wrap everybody up in feelings and warm arms. His skin was crawling over his bones. 

Turning onto the next landing, he spotted a head of auburn curls tucked into a luminous orange hoodie. What the fuck was with the orange? It was giving him a headache. His own apartment was drowned in greys and muted blues, no sharp colours to catch his eye. 

It took a moment to discern the resounding thump from above, unsure if it was in his head or in the air. It took a split second to move, and he shoved the other man backwards without thought.

“What-?” the man squawked in surprise before the sofa slammed into the concrete floor of the landing, frame shattering on impact and cushions jostling into the air. Exactly where he had been walking not two seconds before. Blue eyes flashed up at him, wide and burning with near-death adrenalin. 

The jump in his pulse had to be from the near miss. The feeling churning in his stomach had to be adrenaline. Yes the man was attractive, with his high cheekbones and cobalt blue eyes and the strong line of his jaw and the shine of his auburn curls but … Andrew refused to acknowledge it. Well, he tried.

“Watch where you’re going,” he grunted, stepping round the man still sprawled on the floor and ignoring the desperate shouts of “Neil, are you okay?” as he headed down to the Maserati, climbing in and revving the engine excessively as he tore out onto the street. He needed to clear his thoughts and allow the rumble of the engine to ease the tremble from his hands.

****

 

He didn’t think, he just moved. Grabbing him by the scruffy worn collar of his hoodie, Andrew yanked the taller man back and away from the road, squinting his eyes at the blaring horn as the truck whistled past, inches from the curb.

“What the fuck?” The auburn haired disaster exclaimed, sputtering and struggling out of Andrew’s grip, arms spinning in an uncoordinated attempt at getting his balance.

“You need to watch where you’re fucking going.” Andrew said, rage in his veins as he felt the jump in his pulse. Adrenalin forced a tremble into his arms as dark blue eyes turned to glare at him. In a matter of seconds, those suspicious, narrowed eyes widened and his mouth fell open.

“You!”

“Me,” Andrew replied, finally letting go of the mangled fabric of the other man’s hoodie and shoving his hands into his coat pockets. He could still feel how soft the curls were against the back of his knuckles, the heat of his skin sending ripples against his fingers. It had been so long since he had touched another person, he wasn’t prepared for the thrill. He was expecting nothing but disgust and unease. He wasn’t sure how to handle the sudden urge to drag his fingers through those curls, to wrap his hands around his neck and feel the heat and the blood rushing under his skin, feel his adam’s apple bob if he pressed his thumb and finger on either side of his trachea.

Two weeks ago he had shoved the same red-haired idiot out of the way of a falling sofa in the stairwell. He refused to admit that it may have been because somebody so pretty didn’t deserve to be squished. If by any chance he had thought that, he would have changed his mind by now. Maybe he should let natural selection take it’s toll. Somebody so stupid shouldn’t be allowed to live.

Realising he wasn’t going to get a thanks, he turned and shuffled a cigarette out of it’s pack, lighting up and taking a drag. When he glanced over his shoulder, the idiot (Neil, he heard whispering in the back of his mind) was still standing at the edge of the road, head ducked as he scrolled through his phone. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Andrew stepped into the building and began the ascent to his apartment.

****

Andrew swung his feet over the edge of his windowsill, legs between the safety grate, cigarette in one hand and phone in the other.

“I’m glad you called Andrew.” Bee was saying warmly in his ear. “I was dubious that you would stay in touch after university. How have you been doing? Are you settling alright?” Andrew hummed noncommittally, taking a drag from his cigarette and watching the cherry glow in the dark of the night. The empty air between him and the sidewalk pushed up against the bare soles of his feet, trailing fingers of exhilaration across his skin and absorbing into his bloodstream. He stubbed out his cigarette and lit another, letting the smoke stroke the inside of his lungs, anger twisting in his chest at the realisation heights were no longer the only thing that spiked his blood and sent his pulse thrumming.

“Have you spoken to Aaron or Nicky? Have they been to visit you?”

“Nicky showed up.” Andrew answered, desperately shoving two blue eyes out of his thoughts.

“Were you glad to see him?”

“I told him to fuck off.” Andrew admitted, stubbing out another cigarette and flicking it down to the sidewalk. Despite not lightning another cigarette, the smell of smoke was still wafting up Andrew’s nose. Frowning, he searched the darkening skyline for any signs of billowing black clouds, and was instead interupted as the window to his right was shoved open and a puff of smoke cannonballed into the air with a “fuck, fuck, fuck” muttered after it. 

Sighing, he said “Bee, I’ll have to call you back.” and snapped his phone shut, shuffling backwards off the ledge and heading towards his front door. There was a shrill beep spiking through the thin connecting wall, setting his nerve razor blade sharp with irritation as he stepped out of his apartment and knocked heavily on the one next door. 

The door was flung open with the smell of smoke, and Andrew stepped inside and raised an eyebrow as the idiot launched himself back to his kitchen, chucking damp cloths over a burning pan and waving his hands frantically. Smoke hung heavy and grey in the air, deadly fog circling the apartment and reaching tendrils into every corner. Shaking his head, Andrew hauled the fire extinguisher out from the cupboard behind the door and shoved the flailing idiot away from the pan.

“That’s the third time I’ve saved your life.” Andrew said once the fire was out, setting the fire extinguisher aside and turning an arched eyebrow on the smoky, singed figure behind him. Blue eyes were rimmed red and watery from the smoke, raggedy collar of his shirt pulled over his nose and mouth. “And I still haven’t gotten a thank you.” he pointed out, shoving the pan into the water-filled sink and watching steam rise with the furious hiss of the cold water.

“Thanks. Who are you?” Turning, he leant against the counter and trailed his eyes over grey sweatpants and a mud-brown t-shirt stretched out of shape.

“Andrew.” he answered eventually.

“Do you make a job out of rescuing damsels in distress?”

“You don’t seem like much of a damsel. Disaster magnet, yes.”

“It has a nice ring to it.”

“Get it on your gravestone. I’d start saving up now, won’t be long.”

“As long as you’re around-”

“I’m not here to save you. I hate you.”

“You don’t even know me.”

“I don’t need to. You’re already a pain in the ass.”

“I’m Neil,” he answered after a quiet moment, pulling his shirt down as the last of the smoke began leaching through the open window.

“I don’t care.” Andrew said, eyes darting to chapped and bitten shell-pink lips. There was a quirk to each corner of that enticing mouth at his reply and he raised his eyes to glare into those damn blue eyes.

“I think you do. Why else would you keep saving me? Out of the goodness of your heart?”

“I don’t have a heart.” Andrew regretted it the moment it was out of his mouth. He sounded childish, but this boy - Neil - was getting under his skin. He was rewarded with a bright eyed smirk and tilting head. 

“Okay, whatever you say Andrew.” He wanted to tear his name out of that mouth. There was something intimate about how he rolled the letters, tasting them carefully before spitting them into the heavy space between them. “Will you let me buy you a coffee as a thank you?”

“A coffee?” Three times. He had saved this insufferable idiot three times and he wanted to buy him a fucking coffee as a thank you?

“Lunch? Dinner?” Neil offered, tugging at the hem of his shirt as his eyes danced around the room uncertainly.

“I prefer hot chocolate to coffee. And it better be a fucking good restaurant, not-” he cut his eyes to the black mess in the pan. “Whatever the fuck you were trying to cook.”

“Deal.” Neil smiled. “Is tonight alright?” Andrew nodded sharply, turning his head to watch as the annoyingly tall man with the spiky hair rushed into the apartment, worry pulling at his face.

“Neil, what the fuck happened? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine Matt. Andrew saved me. Again.” he sent a soft smile Andrew’s way and Andrew’s eyes darted in search of a knife to carve the expression off his face or the feeling out of his own chest. “I’ll pick you up tonight. Is 8 okay?”

“I don’t give a fuck.” Andrew muttered, pressing a hand to Neil’s chest to shove him away as he walked past. He couldn’t help but marvel at the firm muscle beneath his palm. He dug his nails in sharply, anger burning his throat, but Neil just stepped back with a wide grin and rubbed a hand through his curls ruefully.

Matt stepped aside, gawking at Andrew, and then turned to Neil in a hushed voice as Andrew left the apartment and went next door to scrub the smell of smoke from his body and cool the heat in his blood.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you like it  
> Find me @foxpaws10 on tumblr


End file.
